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Monday, February 1, 2016

The Making Of Pelesit & Polong

I can assure you that the below info is exclusive and hard to come by these days...

Basically
Pelesit and Polong have the same characteristics. The only differences lie in
the form and the gender of their owners. A polong works for a male owner and a
pelesit works for a female owner.

The
functions of a pelesit and polong are the same: for stealing of money and to
destroy the enemies. Except that a pelesit has an additional edge that is it
can make its lady owner look young always.

It is
believed that a pelesit and polong can transform into the form of their owners;
which is the same of a ‘hantu raya’ or a wandering spirit or a great spirit if
you will. In old days, people in Selangor, Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah
and Trengganu used to be knowledgeable of the ‘arts of pelesit and polong.

Pelesit and polong feed on chicken eggs that
have been poked a hole with a sewing needle. As I heard that this egg is placed
near the feet of the owner at night when the owners sleeping at night. During
mid-night, the pelesit or polong will protrude its elongated tongue from the
roof down to suck the contents of the egg. In another version, I was told that
a pelesit or a polong will transform into an insect and sneak to the toe of its
owner and bite on the toe to draw blood. Hence people believe that if a people
look extremely skinny, he/she might be a possible candidate for owning one of
this spirits. In another version of the story, a pelesit/polong is kept inside
a small bottle and it is fed with the owner’s blood drawn from ring finger
during full moon night. However, if a pelesit/polong is not fed amply, then it
will venture out of the house and disturb the neighbors.

Local
believe that when the owner of a pelesit/polong dies, the cloth covering the
face of the deceased would show signs of moving. And when the cloth is removed,
people would find the tongue of the deceased protruding and wriggling out from
the mouth; while the eyes rolled back.

The owner
of a pelisit/polong is said to be void of descendent because the spirit would kill
all children in the house if it is not being well taken care of. A locol bomoh
(shaman) told me that when a person is possessed by a pelisit/polong; the only
way to coax out the owner is to bring a red onion and 3 grains of black pepper
seeds. The items are then pressed onto the thumb nails.

Another
sign of a person possessed by a pelisit/polong is that the possessed person
dare not look into the eyes of others. The bomoh also told me that it helps to
fumigate the victim of a pelisit/polong with ‘kemayan’ (benzoin) smoke. It is
said that when one of the above method is used, the person will utter the name
of the owner. Of course this method has caused many innocent folks to be
accused and harmed for many personal reasons. Perhaps this resembles some sort
of ‘witch hunt’ in the medieval Europe…

It is not
difficult to detect if a pelisit/polong is present as it would make the sound
of ‘sat… sat… sat’ and if people would perform a search, they shall find a
grass hopper with the head similar that of a person. If this grasshopper is
caught and its head being pluck, in addition three breathes are blown onto the
grasshopper with added cursing and swearing before letting it go (provided that
if the poor creature still lives…). If a grain of yellow rice or a piece of
hair is found after the head is plugged, then it is said that this
pelisit/polong has an owner.

Another
method to kill a grasshopper believed to be a pelisit/polong is to strike it
with a broom while saying: “it is not that I have killed you, it is the broom!”
This is to avoid the revenge of the pelisit/polong. This is due to the belief
that a pelisit/polong is afraid of a broom. Old Malays believe that when they
believed that a pelisit/polong is making noise, they would strike a broom onto
the floor; and the pelisit/polong would become silent and flee from the place.

If a
grasshopper believed to be a pelisit/polong being caught and put into a bottle,
its owner will wandering about like insane finding his/her pelisit/polong
within two days of the creature being caught. This bottle should be thrown into
a river that flows into the sea. Would it help to get rid of a pelisit/poling
by killing the grasshopper? Well, no. People believe that the owner can always
generate another grasshopper to replace the lost ones.

Folks
believe that a pelisit/polong can be summoned in three ways:

Method 1:

An old
green coconut which stem is being bitten off with teeth and that his green
coconut should be carried down while holding in one’s mouth. After that this
coconut husk is shredded and then the coconut flesh is used to produce coconut
milk. Then the coconut milk is being boiled to make coconut oil. The coconut
oil is later filled into a terracotta urn together with 3 pieces of white or
black chicken eggs. This urn is then sealed and then buried in a 3-way
crossroads for 40 days.

When the
time is up, this container is dug up and it is then hung in the center of the
house beam. This urn should then be fumigated by smoke produce from burning 7
pieces of coconut ‘lidi’ (leaflets) taken from the same midrib during Maghrib
time. It is believed that thousands of grasshoppers will come to enjoy the
feast. Only one of the grasshoppers will transform into pelisit/polong.

Method 2:

The dead body
of an eldest baby of less than 40 days whose mother is also the eldest in the
family is the main ingredient for making a pelesit/polong. The corpse of the
dead baby should be dug up during mid-night usually a Friday night. After that,
the corpse is placed on an ant hill and subsequent conjuration is made until voices
came out from the corpse with its tongue wriggling. The person should approach
the corpse and bite off this tongue.

This tongue
should be placed inside a coconut shell. This tongue and coconut shell is then
burn with slow fire until oil is produced. It is then buried in a 3-way crossroads
for 3 days consecutively. The coconut shell must be collected from an isolated
coconut tree. It is said that on the fourth day, a pelisit/polong will present
inside the coconut shell ready to be deployed.

Method 3:

A much
simpler method is to comb one’s hair at dusk for a consecutive of 40 days in
front of a mirror. The person should wear the clothing worn by a previous owner
of a pelisit/polong. It is said that this way enables one to recall a
pelisit/polong from the previous owner.

Whatever
method one uses, the pelisit/polong should be fed with blood at an interval of
at least once a month; and that it should be kept in a small bottle filled with
coconut oil.

The
telltale sign of a pelisit/polong owner is that he/she would have small and red
eyes; and that he/she would avoid direct eye contacts. When he/she sleeps,
he/she will sleep facing up with mouth opening and producing sounds of a cat
drinking water. Another way of testing if a person keeps a pelisit/polong is to
hide a small piece of monkey bone under betel leaves. If the person consumes
the betel leaves and moan in pain, then he/she is the keeper of a pelisit/polong.

I am not
sure if anyone still keeps a pelisit/polong in that matter to date, and I have
not personally tried the making of pelisit/polong ritual. If you have tried and
successfully produced one; then please do let me know.